World's Tallest Mennonite
Newton, Kansas
Carved from Kansas limestone, 11 feet tall on a six-foot base, skinny like the Skowhegan Indian, this statue was probably one of the last WPA projects. It was completed just before Pearl Harbor in 1941, and its stripped-down social realism style reportedly drew gasps of displeasure when it was unveiled.
Perhaps because raising a monument to pacifist Mennonites was politically incorrect during the World War II years, this "Mennonite Settler" statue instead emphasizes the crop that they brought with them. It stands inside a tiled circle that reads, "Commemorating Entry into Kansas from Russia of Turkey Red Hard Winter Wheat by Mennonites."
World's Tallest Mennonite
- Address:
- Athletic Park Drive, Newton, KS [Show Map]
- Directions:
- I-135 exit 31. Drive west on E. 1st St. for two miles. You'll see Athletic Park on the right. Turn right on Grandview Ave., then make a quick right on 2nd St. into the Park, then a right onto Athletic Park Drive. Circle the Park, and the statue will be on the left side at the north end of the Park as the road curves to the left.
- Phone:
- 316-283-7555
Nearby Offbeat Places
- Valeda The Talking Transparent Woman, Halstead, KS - 9 mi.
- Liberty Bell Made of Wheat, Goessel, KS - 14 mi.
- Stonehenge Jr., Wichita, KS - 24 mi.
- Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, Hutchison, KS - 31 mi.
